BROOKHAVEN — A crowd of 70 people gathered in the Lincoln, Lawrence, Franklin County Library Saturday afternoon for a presentation on the history of Alexander High School’s marching band. It was the first time they have been able to host Brookhaven First Achievers exhibit since 2020 due to COVID. 

The crowd was there to learn a little more about the famous Alexander band but also to celebrate Black History month, a celebration first started by Carter G. Woodson in 1926 with Black History Week. Since 1976, Black History Month has been proclaimed by each President. 

Brookhaven’s First Achievers visionary was August Maxine Allen. She started the event in 2010. Brookhaven has a rich history to share and Dexter Holloway is one of the voices to tell the story. He welcomed everyone to the event with a story. 

“I come to the library probably twice a month to go through a collection of photos. These boxes and boxes of photos document the history of Brookhaven. Most of the pictures in here come from here. I can get bogged down in the history of us so I have to stay narrow in my focus on Alexander,” Holloway said. “I still end up going astray. I was looking at photos for Alexander. I found a woman and her baby. I didn’t know who it was but this picture told me to take it so I decided to take it and post it on Facebook. I got a phone call from a person who was the baby in the picture. She had never seen it before. She had to take it and send it to someone to authenticate it was her and her momma. There is no telling what you will find when you come to the library.” 

Tonya Marks, who was the woman in the picture, was in attendance. She smiled and wiped away tears from her eyes as she laughed at his story. The stage was set for Kendra Jenkins, a doctoral student in Music Education at the University of Mississippi, to share a part of Brookhaven’s history tucked away in the background.
She said she loved to talk about “our contributions to society,” because they can still be overlooked. Segregation created Alexander High School and its famous marching band and desegregation dissolved the band. 

Her hope was to shed light on what people might not know about Alexander’s Marching Band. She worked on a project about the band in a historical research class and said information was hard to find. 

“Segregation was a shameful period of time. It can’t be erased and efforts to do so have concealed achievements,” Jenkins said. “High School music programs were successful but were dismantled when segregation ended. I came across the same story in my studies. They had a functioning program and then along came integration. The directors at schools like Alexander were either fired or took lesser positions and the programs dissolved.” 

She explained Alexander’s marching band was considered one of the best in the state and had three long-serving band directors with two being women. Before desegregation in 1970, the band had 150 members. Alexander’s marching band had grown from its humble beginnings in 1941. 

AHS was first founded in 1891 and was destroyed by fire three times over its history. Amos Wesley Wright was the first band director of the Panthers, Jenkins said. Alexander became known for marching with precision under the direction of Wright and would travel with the football team. 

“They were invited to perform in different places. One show was as far as Corinth and the other as far away as Arkansas,” Jenkins said. “Wright would get his fraternity brothers to help the band travel.” 

World War II opened the door for female directors to become involved with bands. Dollye Robinson led the Alexander band from 1948 to 1957. Jenkins noted she was the only teacher at Alexander to not have gone to Alcorn State. 

A graduate of Jackson State University, she took the band to Jackson to march in a parade. Alexander’s band had about 80 students marching and when she saw Jackson State march with 8 students she made the decision to leave for the Tigers where she served for 60 years. 

Jenkins said Alexander’s glory years were from 1958 to 1970. Mae Robinson Brown directed the Panthers with the belief “perfection is a common practice not an idea.” 

In 1963, Alexander joined the Mississippi High School Activities Association and won superior marks in every event. They marched at the Rose Bowl, Crewe of Carrolton Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans and State Fairs. 

Holloway will speak about Remembering Alexander at the Furlow Senior Citizen Center at 201 South First Street in Brookhaven this Thursday at 6:30 p.m.